Team members were Abhijit Mudigonda, Eddie Wang, Vincent Zhuang, Chris Younkins and David Wang, coached by Bradley Helsel, a chemistry teacher at Westview. They beat 67 other teams to reach the finals, where they lost to three-time champion Mira Loma High School of Sacramento, Calif.

"It was an extremely exciting and thrilling weekend," Helsel said. "We went into it feeling confident but somewhat reserved, and then as things went on, they just kept winning and winning and next thing we knew we were in the final round Monday morning." The students entered the final round after a 13-and-a-half-hour day of competition on Sunday, from about 9 a.m. to about 10:30 p.m., Helsel said.

Helsel added that the students did most of the work in running practices and creating teams from within the school's science club that could perform well in the competition's five categories: chemistry, biology, physics, math and energy.

According to a press release from Bonneville Power Administration, the Westview students’ second-place finish earns them a five-day guided tour of Great Salt Lake, Yellowstone National and Grand Teton National parks, as well as $1,000 for their school’s science department.

Helsel said the team also won its division in an engineering challenge that was part of the National Science Bowl, earning it an additional $500 for the school's science department.

Another Pacific Northwest team, the Science Infinity Club of Bellevue, Wash., finished fourth in the middle school competition. Two other Portland-area teams went to the National Science Bowl in 2011, according to the BPA press release: Shahala Middle School of Vancouver, which placed second, and Sunset High School, also in the Beaverton School District, which placed third.